[HLUG] hereford councils contract with microsoft up for renewal

[Richard Smedley]

Yes, MS have the council firmly in its
grip - the only way out of this is
mandating open standards. Once all
apps are compatible with open data
formats, then options become available
- whether proprietary or Free Software. [1]

Until then, well ... enjoy seeing your
council tax flying over the Atlantic :-/

 - Richard

[1] Open Standards benefit everyone except
    monopolists. ;o)

On 28/09/10 21:56, Sarah Chard wrote:
> I wonder what comments/thoughts other HLUG members have about the
> following which I have just read on the Herefordshire council website
> relating to the decision made in april 2008 to renew the councils
> contract with microsoft
> http://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/iedecisiondetails.aspx?id=1609&j=1&zts=undefined
> 
> 
> the contract is up for renewal in april 2011 so they must already be
> discussing whether or not they should renew it - it seems to have been
> rubber stamped in 2008 - 
> the relevant wording from the council's 2008 decision is below - perhaps
> we should be offering the council an alternative viewpoint before they
> make their 2011 decision and spend all that money?
> 
> Purpose:
> To agree the renewal of the current Microsoft Enterprise Agreement
> licence, support and maintenance contract covering all corporate
> (excluding schools, education and research) Microsoft computer software
> in use within the authority for a period of three years.
> 
> Decision:
> THAT
> 
> a)      the funding available is noted; and
> 
> b)     the contract is renewed in the sum of £645,000 over the three
> year period.
> 
> Reasons for the decision:
> To ensure that all corporate Microsoft software is covered in terms of
> support, maintenance and licence compliance for a period of three years
> and to ensure that the Council continues to receive the associated forty
> percent discount for new Microsoft software.
> 
> Alternative options considered:
> 1.      There are no realistic alternative options in terms of supplier.
> The majority of partners, local Councils, Central Government
> departments, NHS agencies and businesses use Microsoft software.
> 
> 2.      To switch to another supplier would be problematic at best as
> the majority of business applications within the Council only work on
> and with Microsoft operating systems and Office software. They would,
> therefore, become unworkable, necessitating their replacement. In short,
> the Council are locked into this supplier as are all other organisations
> who predominantly use Microsoft software on such a scale.
> 
> 3.      Microsoft software costs are seen as a “cost of doing business”
> by most organisations as there is no real alternative supplier that
> provides the same breadth of software to the same high quality and most
> importantly, to the same level of usability for staff and engineers.[1]
> 
> 4.      The authority could choose not to renew the Enterprise
> Agreement. However, this means the Council will lose out on the benefits
> of having an organisation-wide agreement and face a much larger cost
> when rolling out projects that require desktops or servers or when
> purchasing Microsoft products. When Microsoft upgrades its current line
> of products the Council would not be able to upgrade them and would have
> to buy the new version at full price. At over 2000 desktop users and
> over 100 servers this would be at a much higher cost (40% extra per unit
> of Microsoft software). Additional staff resource would be required to
> provide licence compliance support.
> 
> 
> 
> ________________________________________________________________________
> [1] The only alternative to Microsoft software is open source software.
> This is provided by many different companies. Whilst appearing to be
> free, the total cost of ownership is similar if not slightly higher than
> when using Microsoft software on such an organisation-wide scale. The
> majority of the business applications in use do not work on this
> platform so most of the other software in use across the Council would
> need to be replaced as well as the core desktop and server software.
> Full retraining of all staff and technical engineers would need to take
> place and further integration with the Primary Care Trust who use
> Microsoft software would be made more difficult and costly.
> 
> 
> Publication Date: 11/04/2008
> 
> Date of Decision: 10/04/2008
> 
> Effective from: 17/04/2008
> 
> 
>